For a franchise built on blockbuster spectacle, Spider-Man has quietly developed an impressive awards pedigree over the past two decades. Sam Raimi’s original trilogy helped redefine the modern superhero film, while Spider-Man: No Way Home became a post-pandemic phenomenon with almost $2 billion at the global box office. More recently, the animated Spider-Verse films have become critical darlings, with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Across the Spider-Verse (2023) earning another nomination. Across the live-action Spider-Man series, films have also received Academy Award nominations in the Visual Effects and Sound categories. At the same time, Marvel productions have regularly featured at the Golden Globes, proving that comic-book cinema is no longer dismissed by awards bodies quite as readily as it once was.
Comic-book performances have slowly broken through awards barriers over the years. Heath Ledger famously won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight (2009 ceremony), while Joaquin Phoenix won Best Actor for Joker (2020 ceremony). Angela Bassett became the first actor nominated for an Oscar for an MCU performance with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2023 ceremony). At the Golden Globes, Phoenix won Best Actor for Joker, while Bassett won Best Supporting Actress for Wakanda Forever. Those successes demonstrate that exceptional performances in superhero films can be recognized when awards voters feel the work transcends expectations.
With Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Marvel and Sony may not have another Best Picture contender on their hands, but they have produced one of the strongest acting showcases of Tom Holland‘s career. That alone makes this year’s awards conversation far more interesting than many superhero releases receive.
Holland’s growth as an actor has been fascinating to watch. He has gradually shed the label of simply being “Spider-Man,” taking on more dramatic work in films such as Uncharted, The Devil All the Time, and now Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. The latter understandably arrives with enormous prestige attached, and historically, Academy voters have been far more receptive to large-scale literary adaptations than to superhero adventures.
Ironically, though, I think Holland delivers the better performance in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Peter Parker has never felt this emotionally exhausted, isolated, or mature, and Holland finds subtlety where previous entries relied on youthful charm. His performance balances humor with genuine heartbreak without losing the joie de vivre (joy of living) Holland naturally has. While I don’t see it breaking into the fiercely competitive Best Actor race at the Oscars, I do think it deserves genuine consideration at the Golden Globes. His work here feels more complete and emotionally satisfying than what he delivers in The Odyssey, even if the latter is likely to attract more traditional awards attention simply because of its genre.
Sadie Sink is another performer who deserves a place in the conversation. Introducing Jean Grey into the Marvel Cinematic Universe was always going to carry enormous expectations, yet Sink never plays the role as a simple comic-book archetype. Instead, she gives Jean vulnerability, intelligence, and an unsettling emotional unpredictability that keeps every scene engaging. Like Holland, I don’t believe the Academy will embrace the performance, but Golden Globe recognition feels far more realistic. It would also continue a gradual shift in recognizing performances from comic-book adaptations rather than overlooking them entirely.
Jon Bernthal shouldn’t be overlooked either. His version of Frank Castle has become one of Marvel’s most compelling characters, and Brand New Day gives him material that goes beyond being the tough anti-hero. His chemistry with Holland surprisingly brought much of the needed comedic breaks and created some of the film’s most memorable scenes. If Marvel mounts any acting campaign outside Holland and Sink, Bernthal would be my choice for Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes.
There is precedent here, too. Marvel’s The Punisher received recognition during its original run, including a 2019 Creative Arts Emmy nomination for Stunt Coordination, while the series also earned several Saturn Award nominations, with Jon Bernthal winning Best Streaming Presentation Actor in 2019. Although those aren’t Oscar-level honors, they demonstrate that his portrayal has consistently attracted industry appreciation.
Beyond the acting categories, Spider-Man: Brand New Day feels like an obvious contender in Visual Effects. The first-person web-swinging sequences through New York are among the film’s biggest technical achievements, placing audiences directly behind Peter Parker’s mask in a way that feels exhilarating. It is the kind of innovation that the Academy’s Visual Effects branch often responds to, particularly when new techniques are used to immerse audiences rather than create larger explosions.
Spider-Man films have a respectable history in the category. Spider-Man: No Way Home earned an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, while previous Spider-Man films have regularly appeared on awards shortlists. The Golden Globes introduced the Cinematic and Box Office Achievement awards in 2024, giving superhero blockbusters another avenue for recognition, and Brand New Day certainly possesses both the commercial success and technical ambition to fit that profile.
Whether any of these nominations ultimately happen remains to be seen. Awards campaigns are as much about momentum as quality, and prestige dramas will inevitably dominate much of the conversation. Even so, Spider-Man: Brand New Day feels like one of those rare superhero films that deserves to be discussed beyond the usual technical categories. Holland, Sink, Bernthal and the visual effects team have all delivered work worthy of serious consideration.
The bigger question is whether awards voters will agree. Will the film sneak into Visual Effects while picking up an acting nomination or two? Or will it become another acclaimed blockbuster that audiences champion while awards season largely looks elsewhere? As awards speculation begins in earnest, I’d love to hear what fellow Spider-Man fans think deserves recognition.
